Radial hearings are typically comprised of needle rolling elements or cylindrical rolling elements, such as drawn cup needle roller hearings, cylindrical roller bearings with machined race(s), rolling elements, and cage assemblies. The cage assemblies include a first flange, a second flange, and web-like cage bars that connect the first flange and the second flange. Currently, various cage profiles, including straight cages and cages which resemble the letters W, M, V, A, and U in axial cross-section, are known and used in radial roller bearing applications. A straight cage or a cage having a U-profile is used with rolling elements of limited length. However, these cages do not provide a portion of the cage bar for the rolling elements to push against at or near the pitch. The current production cages also cannot maintain a portion of the cage bar at or above the bearing pitch, at or below the hearing pitch, or both above and below the bearing while maintaining rolling element retention.
Currently, when axial width is limited the entire cage bar is located either above the bearing pitch or below the bearing pitch. This allows rolling elements to over-run the cage bar or go below the cage bar. When this occurs, the cage bar can become damaged, which could lead to bearing failure.
Presently, a straight cage or a cage having a U-profile is typically used with rolling elements of limited lengths. However, the straight or U-profile cage is pushed by the rolling elements below the pitch of the bearing only. In certain conditions, the rolling elements can over-run the bar and damage it, causing bearing failure. Also, straight or U-profile cages only provide inner retention for rolling elements. Thus, the current cage design for radial bearings of limited width does not properly guide rolling elements, does not prevent rolling elements from overrunning cage bars, does not provide proper contact of rolling elements to push the cage around, and does not provide inner and outer retention of rolling elements as needed.
Radial roller bearings requiring both inner and outer retention (i.e., rolling element and cage assemblies) are typically manufactured with M-profile or W-profile cages. However, for applications of limited width, M-profile or W-profile cages cannot be used because those cage profiles are not conducive to the reduction of cage width. Neither the M-profile cage nor the W-profile cage is wide enough to have both inner retention and outer retention and/or cannot be manufactured.